Transformers: Fates Entwined
by The Dark Cross
Summary: 17 year old Theo Goodridge never knew his parents and has been living with the Lennox family for the past 5 years after the murder of his aunt and uncle. Everything changed the day he learned about Cybertronians, and the alien machines could be the key to unraveling his past, or the instruments of his demise.
1. Nightfall

_He remembered that day, walking into the family room only to find a massacre. His aunt and uncle lay dead, sprawled out on the floor, covered in streaks of blood. Standing amongst the carnage was a figure wearing a black hooded robe. A porcelain mask was on its face, its mouth turned up in a ghoulish grin. In one hand it held a hatchet, bringing its other hand up to its mouth to make a shushing motion. He knew what he had to do, running out of the house and into the woods behind it, charging through the woods for what felt like hours until his legs were sore. He came to a house and collapsed at the door._

17 year old Theo Goodridge awoke in a cold sweat. Theo was rather skinny, with black hair, wire rimmed glasses, and a faint English accent that should have not occurred at all.

He was still haunted by the murders of his aunt and uncle 5 years prior. They weren't his real aunt and uncle, having found him on the side of the road when he was a baby. He saw them as his guardians but couldn't bring himself to refer to them as his mom and dad. He didn't know who the murderer was, but referred to the figure as "The Other." He would never forget that day, having lost his aunt and uncle. However, something good did come of that day, meeting his new aunt and uncle in the form of Sarah and William Lennox.

A couple months ago their daughter Annabelle was born, and William returned two weeks ago after being rescued from an attack in Qatar and taking care of some rouge military agents in Mission City.

Sighing, Theo opened his window and walked out onto the roof, finding a comfortable spot before sitting down. He looked to the sky, gazing at the stars.

He scanned the sky, looking for a specific star. He looked for a couple minutes before finding the star he was looking for. It wasn't the biggest or brightest star in the sky, but to him, it had a soothing glow. "Hi mom, dad. Sorry I haven't been able to talk to you in a while. Uncle William just got back a couple weeks ago so life's been pretty hectic here. He's working on things relating to Mission City and Qatar. He has to go to a new base he's been assigned to next week, so he'll be away for a while."

Theo was often like this, talking to the sky to clear his thoughts. He also did it so that his parents, wherever they are, could hear how he was doing. He wasn't angry with his parents, they had to have abandoned him for a reason, like not being able to take care of him.

"I just miss you guys." He sighed. "I promise that one day, I'll find you, and we can be a family again." It was a hollow promise of course, his parents could be anyone, anywhere, so the odds of them actually finding them were microscopically thin.

He was about to speak again but was interrupted when he heard a voice coming from the other side of the house. "Ratchet, I'm fine." A gruff voice with an English accent spoke.

"Ironhide, both of us know that that's a lie." A new voice spoke, lacking an accent and slightly less gruff than its partner.

_Okay, this is getting weird, _Theo thought. What the heck kind of names were Ratchet and Ironhide? Were they burgalers? Friends of uncle William using their code names? Theo didn't know, but he wanted to see who these people were. Climbing in through the window, Theo left his room and walked quietly downstairs towards the front door. Heading to the kitchen, Theo looked out the window, gazing upon the driveway.

On the driveway was a black GMC topkick, the one uncle William came back with, aunt Sarah had been nagging at him to get rid of it. Gazing further, Theo saw a yellow hummer with red markings resembling the line on a heart monitor.

"Would you stop complaining, you'll wake the humans." Ratchet replied, the voice seemingly coming from the hummer. "Will you just transform and let me look at it?"

"Fine, but we are not doing it so close to the house, the female or adolescent male might be awake." Ironhide said, like Ratchet, his voice seemed to be coming from the topkick. Ratchet let out a sigh and the vehicles started moving towards the farm.

Theo was just about to leave the house and pursue the vehicles when he felt something nuzzle his leg. "Oh, hello Glynda." Theo bent down to pick up the white cat. "Wanna come with me?" Theo asked. Glynda gave a purr in response. "Good, let's go." He said, the cat following him as he slid on his shoes.

Walking along the path from the house to the farm, Glynda in tow, Theo contemplated what to do. He settled on asking them who they were, and what they meant by "transform."

Theo walked around the barn, reaching the back, before letting out a scream.

Miles away, a police car pulled out of Hoover Dam. "Blackout, do you read me?" A voice spoke into the com.

"Loud and clear Barricade." The voice on the other end spoke. "What do you need?"

"I need your help locating the Autobot medic Ratchet." Barricade said into the comm.

"What do you need him for?" Blackout questioned.

"I need him for something he could help us with." Barricade spoke as a silver shape convulsed violently in the police car's back seat.

Meanwhile in the deserts of Nevada four figures conversed.

"What do you need us for, Shockwave?" A winged pink robot spoke with a female voice.

"I agree with Shatter, what do you want us to do?" A blue mech with wheels on his legs and shoulders, as well as helicopter propellers on his back said.

"Ladies, gentlemen, Blitzwing." A cycloptic purple robot with a red eye spoke, a massive cannon replacing its left forearm.

"Hey!" A white robot with purple highlights exclaimed. A jet's cockpit sat in the middle of its chest. Two red eye sat on its head, a gas mask-like structure formed its lower face. A pair of jet wings extended from its back.

"We, as some of lord Megatron's greatest warriors, are to ensure that our lord will be there to command us for as long as we live." The purple robot known as Shockwave continued. "However we know that approximately 14 solar cycles ago, our lord was killed in the human settlement known as Mission City, located 300 miles due south of here."

"Well we all know that." Blitzwing spoke.

"If you would just listen I will explain what we are to do." Shockwave stated. "The Allspark was shoved into his spark chamber, killing him and destroying the Allspark."

"Well there goes our plans for unlimited power and wisdom." The blue mech spoke.

"Yes Dropkick, but according to some files that Soundwave obtained, two fragments of the Cube were recovered from our lord's body." Shockwave explained.

"I've researched a bit about the Allspark, apparently its powers can revive the dead. So I can assume we are to obtain one of the fragments to revive lord Megatron." The pink robot deduced.

"Precisely Shatter, even a sliver of the Cube can undo death itself. However, those fragments are likely heavily guarded so obtaining them would be almost impossible." Shockwave spoke.

"If thats the case, then how are we going to get them?" Blitzwing spoke.

"Where are the fragments anyway?" Dropkick asked.

"To answer both of your questions, one fragment is located in a military base outside of Mission City. We aren't aware of the other's whereabouts. As for how to obtain the fragments, well, I have my ways." Shockwave chuckled as he pointed his cannon towards the sky before firing it.


	2. Introductions

A/N: Since I already wrote Chapter 2, I thought I might as well post it. I don't own transformers

Standing before Theo were two massive robots. The first was black and rather bulky, it was also the taller of the two. A scar ran over its right eye, partially obscuring the blue orb. Its "nose" was flat and pug-like.

The second was lanky and yellowish green with red highlights. It possessed a civil war looking "moustache." Like the first robot, it possessed blue eyes.

"Oh would look at that Ironhide, you woke up the boy." The yellow robot spoke.

"How is this my fault?" The black mech known as Ironhide retorted.

Theo was frozen in shock. This could not be happening. This had to be some kind of dream, there was no way two giant robots were standing in his backyard. Glynda gave a hiss at the mechs.

Sarah and William Lennox ran forward, standing next to Theo. Sarah turned to face the mechs before looking back at William. "What the hell is going on here William." She looked calm, but a twitch in her eye revealed her true thoughts on the scene.

"Sarah, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to break it to you like this." William said, trying to diffuse the situation.

Theo tuned out the ensuing argument and focused on Ironhide and Ratchet, who were looking at the bickering couple. He was mesmerized by the two mechs towering over him. There was something almost comforting about the robots that he hadn't noticed when he first saw them.

"Fine then, could you please just give me and Theo a proper introduction to these things?" Sarah sighed.

The robot known as Ironhide bent down. "Greetings Sarah and Theo Lennox."

"Actually my last name is Goodridge, they aren't my parents, just my guardians." Theo interjected.

Ironhide shot Theo a look before continuing. "We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron."

"But you can call us Autobots for short." Ratchet added helpfully.

"Ok, so why are you here?" Theo asked, curious.

"We came to your world in search of an object that could restore life to Cybertron. It was called the Allspark and could have saved our home world." The black mech spoke.

"Um, I noticed you were using past tense when you were talking about this Allspark. Did something happen to it?" Sarah asked.

Ratchet gave a sigh, "You see Mrs. Lennox, we weren't the only ones searching for the Allspark. The reason why our world was left as a barren wasteland was because we were fighting a war with the Decepticons, a group that wanted to use the Allspark's power for their own nefarious purposes."

"In order to ensure that the Allspark's power wasn't used for evil, our leader Optimus Prime launched it into space." Ironhide continued.

"However, the Decepticon leader Megatron followed the Allspark into space." Ratchet added

"Megatron and the Allspark crashed into Earth, leaving Megatron trapped in the Arctic Circle." The black Cybertronian said. "Recently, the Decepticons made a reemergence in search for the Allspark and Megatron."

"We arrived shortly after the attack in Qatar, hoping to obtain the Allspark and use it to revive our planet. Unfortunately, Megatron was able to escape his cryostasis in Hoover Dam and attacked Mission City where the Allspark was taken as it was originally in the dam with Megatron." Ratchet spoke.

"So that's what happened in Qatar and Mission City!" Theo and Sarah said at the same time, causing Glynda to jump out of her master's arms.

"Luckily a boy by the name of Sam Witwicky, the descendant of the man who originally found Megatron, fused the Allspark with Megatron's spark, which is what we Cybertronians call a soul, destroying both of them." Ironhide added

"However, we were able to obtain two fragments of the Allspark, one is in our base outside of Mission City, and the other is being taken to the island known as Diego Garcia, which is where we are hoping to establish another base." Ratchet said.

"Unfortunately, several Decepticons survived, and it's likely more are on the way. Therefore, your Government established N.E.S.T, the Nonbiological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty, a group of human soldiers, including your husband, and ourselves, that are to hunt down any remaining Decepticon Forces." The black mech spoke.

"I presume that that's the reason you have to go to that new base next week uncle Will?" Theo spoke.

"Yes, and if it's all right with them, you guys can come as well." William told Sarah and Theo.

"It's perfectly okay for them to come along Major Lennox." Ratchet told the army major.

"Well it's settled then, we're going to this new base to see some robots in action." Sarah said with a grin. "But first, we should go back to sleep. It's the middle of the night and we should really be resting."

Theo and William nodded before walking back to the house, Theo having retrieved Glynda.

"The boy took the revelation of our existence extremely well." Ironhide said as he sat down so Ratchet could repair his damaged leg. It was damaged when he first arrived on Earth, crashing into a pit filled with water that humans called a pool. For the most part it wasn't to bad at first, but know the pain coming from his leg was _killing_ him.

"That he did, though I do believe the female known as Sarah Lennox took it better." Ratchet said as he sat down to assess the damage to the weapon specialist's leg. He carefully opened a panel on Ironhide's knee, looking in on the wiring.

Ironhide gave a chuckle, "I do believe the femmes on this planet can be more vicious than our warriors of legend if they have to."

"You really should have been more careful when you landed." Ratchet said as he maneuvered his servos through the bundles of wires.

Ironhide gave a snort, "Says the mech who landed in a storefront."

"That's besides the point." Ratchet said as he touched a wire, causing Ironhide's leg to stiffen. "There's the problem." Ratchet said as he looked closely at the wire he had touched. "It's just a bit frayed, it should be an easy fix."

Ironhide watched as the CMO continued to work on his leg. "Honestly you're lucky I have so many redundant parts, I'm honestly sure there are more parts of me in you than there are parts of you at this point." Ratchet said as he fixed the wire.

"In more than just the surgical way." Ironhide teased.

Ratchet gave a chuckle, "I suppose."

Shockwave sat in his workshop. It wasn't anything like he had back on Cybertron or on his ship but it would have to do for now. The base his group was staying at was an extremely large abandoned warehouse.

He was currently working on a new weapon when he heard a voice come through his comm. "Shockwave, have you terminated any Autobots yet?" The slimey voice of Starscream entered his audials.

"Not yet Starscream, I am currently working on a new weapon system that will ensure that we retrieve the Cube fragment." Shockwave replied in his usual emotionless voice.

The Decepticon air commander gave a growl. "How many times do I have to tell you that it's impossible to retrieve those shards? As much as I want Megatron back we are going to have to find a different way to revive him."

"The impossible is just the possible that hasn't happened yet. Furthermore, Megatron's spark was completely destroyed along with the Cube. The only way to revive a Cybertronian whose spark has been destroyed is to use the Cube." Shockwave replied as he continued to fiddle with his newly designed weapon.

"You win this time Shockwave, but I'm keeping an eye on you." Starscream said before he turned off the comm. Starscream greatly resembled Blitzwing, the only differences being the shape of his wings as well as being white, blue, and red. He walked through the abandoned corridors of the Nemesis, a Decepticon ship that had crash landed on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. The corridor's walls were lined with blue pods of energon that would allow the hatchlings in the pods to grow.

He walked into the bridge, were his master was waiting. "Starscream," The black Cybertronian covered in orange markings rasped, "Is there any word of what is occurring on Earth?"

"Yes my eminence, Shockwave is currently developing the technology necessary to obtain the sliver of the Cube." Starscream wouldn't admit it but he was terrified of the figure that stood before him. Not even Megatron himself scared him as much as his master. The only other Cybertronian that gave that much fear to the Decepticon SIC was Shockwave.

"Good, soon phase two Project _Matrix_ will come into fruition." The figure rasped.

"I don't understand why we need Megatron in the first place. It would be much easier to find the Matrix and the Solar Reaper than to go through all this trouble to obtain the shard." The air commander wondered aloud.

The figure glared at Starscream before an invisible force lifted the Decepticon SIC into the air. "You must understand Starscream, only a Prime can kill me. I am far to weak in my current state, so it is necessary for my apprentice to be revived so he can kill Optimus."

"But my liege, there are other Primes correct? The two that you didn't kill or use their bodies to make the tomb housing the Matrix?" Starscream questioned as he struggled in the air.

The figure gave a chuckle, "Quintessa wants that pathetic pebble of a planet destroyed as much as I do. Furthermore, she is still on Cybertron. Danteon is sealed within the Allspark, or its shards now. Optimus is the only threat to me."

Starscream dropped to ground before standing up again. "I want you to send support to Shockwave's group, they are one of our most valuable assets." The figure croaked out.

"Of course oh great one. I shall send reinforcements immediately." Starscream said before leaving the bridge.

"Thrust, I require your assistance." Starscream spoke. As if on cue a green and white seeker entered the room, half of his wings were turned down, forming an upside down v shape. A green triangular cone sat behind his head.

"How can I be of assistance." The green mech spoke in a posh accent. Starscream gave a smile, Thrust was his right hand man and one of, If not the greatest tactician in the Decepticon army. He was also the only mech that could be considered Starscream's "friend."

"I need you to go to Earth and assist Shockwave and his group in the retrieval of the Allspark fragment." The air commander spoke.

Thrust nodded, "Consider it done." He transformed into his Harrier jump jet mode and flew towards Earth.

A/N: Yes, in my story Ratchet and Ironhide are a thing, don't judge me. As for Thrust's design, It's based on his ROTF toy version with his Armada color scheme.

Update: Starscream and Thrust changed to resemble their appearances in Bumblebee.


	3. Execution

A/N: This is a Decepticon-centric chapter so I can characterize the members of Shockwave's Group. I do not own Transformers

A white tow truck drove across the dirt roads of the Nevada mountains urgently, a red 1971 Plymouth GTX and a blue 1973 AMC Javelin pursuing it relentlessly. In a split second the tow truck drove off the road and into the surrounding forest, in an attempt to escape the duo of muscle cars.

The pair of cars followed the truck into the vibrant green of the forest, weaving in between trees to close in on their quarry. "Blitzwing," Shatter's voice came from the Plymouth, "be on standby in case our target tries to resist."

"Of course." Blitzwing's voice came from the other end of the comm. The tow truck entered a clearing, and transformed into a bulky robot with grey chest plates. Pulling out a blaster, the robot fired at its pursuers. The muscle cars avoided the shot before transforming as well, the Javelin turning into the hulking blue form of Dropkick, while the Plymouth morphed into the lithe frame of Shatter.

A pair of blasters formed on Shatter's forearm before she fired them at the white mech. The mech dodged most of the shots but a few had grazed his shoulder. Following Shatter's lead, Dropkick's servo morphed into a cannon-like blaster, which he used to fire a missile at the white mech.

The missile hit a tree, shrapnel from the blast hitting the white mech's optics causing him to howl in pain. Practically blind, the mech fired a couple shots from his blaster in a vain attempt to wound the two 'cons.

"Blitzwing, we could use some help here!" Dropkick shouted into the comm. as he narrowly avoided a blast. He fired another missile at the mech, but the mech seemed to hear the projectile coming and rolled out of the way.

"I'm in route, just hold out a bit longer." Blitzwing's voice said from the other end. Shatter fired a few more rounds at the white mech, a couple rounds hitting his free arm. The mech fired a blast at Shatter in retaliation, but the red 'con easily avoided the shot.

Dropkick retracted his arm cannon, a large serrated sword extended from the to of his wrist to take its place. Dropkick gave a battle cry as he charges at the white mech, closing the distance in a matter of seconds. Dropkick gave a swing of his his hand blade at the mech's free arm, severing it from the mech's body in a single stroke.

The mech gave a shriek of pain before aiming his blaster at Dropkick. He fired a shot that sent the blue Decepticon flying backwards a few yards. The roar of a jet's engines filled the air, a white F-4 Phantom II with purple markings flew overhead.

The jet came back around, multiple missiles appearing under its wings. In a matter of seconds the jet fired its missiles at the white mech, all of them direct hits. The mech was knocked back into a tree, he was knocked down and couldn't muster enough power to get up.

The Phantom continued flying forward as it morphed into the 25-foot tall winged figure of Blitzwing. He landed next to Shatter and the two began walking towards the fallen Autobot. Dropkick had recovered from the shot that had sent him flying backwards and joined his comrades.

"You fought quite hard Longarm, unfortunately you didn't fight hard enough." Shatter mused as she looked at the wounded mech. She gave a smile at Blitzwing's handiwork. Unlike Dropkick, Blitzwing didn't offline targets unless absolutely necessary.

It was time to begin their signature routine. Shatter often negotiating with their target, Blitzwing promising freedom if they gave answers, and Dropkick using more, physical means to extract information.

Longarm tried to move, but Blitzwing's attack had severely damaged his limbs. "What do you want?" The Autobot croaked out.

Shatter gave a chuckle, "We want to know the location of the second Allspark fragment."

Longarm seemed to recoil at this, "The Allspark has been, destroyed?" Dropkick and Blitzwing nodded in response, not that Longarm could see them.

"Unfortunately it has." Shatter spoke.

"I… I don't know." Longarm murmured.

"We all know that isn't true. Listen, if you just tell us what you know about the shards' whereabouts, we will let you go." Blitzwing said.

Longarm remained silent. Dropkick gave a huff, "Tell us where the shard is." He gave the Autobot a kick in the chest.

"I don't know! I just arrived 2 solar cycles ago!" Longarm said as he howled in pain.

Shatter gave a sigh, "Then you are of no use to us." She motioned for Dropkick to follow her, the blue mech complied, matching her pace. She stopped after a couple of feet, "Oh, and Blitzwing?"

The white and purple mech turned to face her. "Yes Shatter?"

"You can have him." The scarlet femme said as she transformed into her harrier jet form and flew off, Dropkick following in his AH-1 SuperCobra helicopter mode.

"This is going to be fun." Blitzwing gave a chuckle before morphing his forearm into a gun. "Autobot Longarm, you stand accused of betraying Cybertron, so I hereby sentence you to death." Blitzwing fired several automatic rounds into Longarm's chest, but to the 'con's surprise, he survived the shots. "So we're going to be difficult I see." Blitzwing's arm returned to normal, but his wing quickly extended, Blitzwing removed the wing, which now resembled a massive sword. In a single stroke Longarm's head was severed from his body.

Admiring his work for a moment, Blitzwing flew into the air and transformed, following Dropkick and Shatter.

The following week after Theo and Sarah learned about the Cybertronians involved Ironhide being bombarded by questions by both Sarah and Theo, the latter of which asked most of them. He was quite fond of the boy but he didn't particularly like being asked questions every 5 minutes.

Other than that, he quite liked the family and became quite attached to Annabelle after being introduced to her.

Finally, the day was upon the family that they'd get to meet the rest of Ironhide's fellow Autobots. After getting Annabelle into her baby seat (which Ironhide wouldn't even allow in him if it wasn't for Annabelle's safety), they began their drive to the N.E.S.T base outside of Mission City.

The drive was uneventful, but the excitement on the way there was practically tangible. After William showed his I.D at the gate, Ironhide drove into a Hangar that was filled with vehicles, the only one that Theo recognized was the yellow Hummer that Ratchet turned into. There was also a silver Corvette Stingray, a similarly colored Pontiac Solstice, a blue Suzuki B-King, a pink Ducati 848, a purple Mv Agusta F4, and a red and blue Peterbilt 379 semi-truck covered in flame decals.

After the family had exited, Ironhide transformed into his bipedal mode, the other vehicles following suit. The Stingray transformed into a mech with long swords attached to his hands and wheels for feet. The Solstice transformed into a visored mech with four fingers. The motorcycles transformed into similar robots with no legs, balancing on their tires like unicycles. The semi-truck transformed into a towering robot. The mech that transformed from the semi bent down, "Greetings Sarah Lennox and Theo Goodridge. I am Optimus Prime."

Shockwave paced around his lab, wondering where his associates had gone. He hadn't told them to go anywhere, in fact he didn't recall them saying they wanted to go anywhere. The entire situation was extremely illogical. Just as he was about to comm them and ask for their location, the warehouse doors opened and the trio entered.

"Where on Earth have you been?" The Decepticon Assassin said in his usual emotionless voice.

"Out hunting for Autobots who might know of the whereabouts of the other shard." Blitzwing replied.

"That is logical. If we fail to obtain the first shard we can always look for the other one." The scientist spoke. "Have you found its location?"

Shatter shook her head, "Unfortunately not, the 'bot we found had only been on Earth for 2 solar cycles. Seeing that he served no purpose to us, I let Blitzwing have him."

"That is most unfortunate." Shockwave said as he walked towards his lab to continue the development of his new weapon system.

A final figure entered the warehouse, a smirk on his face. "Hello Shockwave." Thrust said in a cheerful voice.

A/N: Don't expect regular updates at a set day, I just can't help myself.

As for Blitzwing's height being 23 feet, Bumblebee is 11 and a half feet in the movie and Blitzwing appears to be twice his height.

I made the timeskip since I didn't want to bore you guys.

Update: Blitzwing is now 29 feet tall.


	4. First Meetings

"Well hello Optimus." Sarah said, seemingly not intimidated in the slightest by the blue and red mech's considerable stature.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Theo added.

Optimus gave a smile, "Ironhide has told us quite a bit about you and I'm quite glad that we have more allies on our side."

"I'm honored that you call us allies." Fritz said with pride. William gave Theo a smirk

Optimus gave a chuckle. "Allow me to introduce my fellow Autobots." He gestured to the silver mech with wheel feet, "Our Combat Instructor, Sideswipe."

The mech in question did a spin, ending in a pose.

Optimus gestured to the second silver Cybertronian, the one with four fingers and a visor. "Our Head of Special Operations Jazz."

Jazz gave the group a wave, impressive considering he only had four fingers on each hand. He sat down on a large outcropping on the wall.

Optimus looked at the three Cybertronians that were once motorcycles. "These are our spies, Arcee," he pointed to the pink one, "Chromia," next he pointed at the blue one, "And Elita-1." He finished, gesturing to the purple motorcycle.

"I assume you are already acquainted with my First Lieutenant and Weapon Specialist Ironhide. As well as our Chief Medical Officer Ratchet." Theo and Sarah nodded as Optimus looked at the two aforementioned Cybertronians. "We also have two other members on Earth currently, our scout Bumblebee and Ratchet's assistant Longarm, but we lost contact with the latter about an hour ago."

Theo gave Ratchet a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry about that, Ratchet."

Ratchet gave a forced smile, "It's okay, with any luck he's just lost."

"I presume Ratchet and Ironhide explained our history to you when you first met." Optimus said.

William gave a nod, "They gave them the general rundown as to why you guys are here."

"So are you going to show us around?" Theo asked the Autobot leader.

Optimus nodded, "I suppose you'll need to understand the layout of the base if you are to visit it more often."

The group began to leave the hangar, but unbeknownst to them, a creature descended from the rafters. It was a vaguely avian machine with a long neck and reptilian tail. On the sides of its body, yellow propellers were surrounded by metal in a similar manner to a VTOL aircraft. Its wings were composed of several sharp, katana-like blades. Its legs were long and spindly, its head resembled and eagle's.

The creature was the Decepticon interrogator and torturer Buzzsaw. He wasn't fond of this job, he was used to restraining his victims while his various tools entered their bodies, not infiltrating a military bases. If you were to ask him why he was there, the answer would likely be favoritism. His master Soundwave was quite fond of his minions that were actually suited to this kind of job, Ravage and Laserbeak.

Considering his similarities to Laserbeak, Buzzsaw was the next best choice for infiltration, like Laserbeak, he could transform into practically anything.

Wanting to learn more about this group of humans the Autobot's Weapon Specialist had brought with him, the cyber-eagle followed the group at a safe distance.

The first thing that struck Theo when he entered the main base was how spacious it was. The ceiling was easily 50 feet off the ground, and the halls were probably each 30 feet wide. _Considering who works here, I guess the proportions are justified, _Theo thought to himself. The group stopped next to a human-sized door.

"This is the human rec room." Will said as he opened the door to the room. The room's proportions were much more suited to humans. Theo spotted several soldiers watching T.V, another group was sitting at a table eating, yet another group was playing various games like Pool, Ping Pong, and FoosBall.

"It feels homey." Theo deduced and Sarah nodded.

The group left the room and continued walking, stopping in front of a door that was easily 40 feet tall, a human-sized door at the bottom.

Ratchet opened the door, revealing a room filled with various pieces of medical equipment that Theo didn't even know the names of. Half the room seemed to be suited to human patients, the other half seemed more accostumed to Cybertronian patients.

"This is my med bay," Ratchet explained, "don't come in here unless you're dying or losing fluids at a rapid rate." The group left the room feeling slightly worried, the group followed Lennox and the Autobots through various turns in the hall.

They passed solid steel door with a computer panel in place of a handle, Theo decided not to question it.

The group went through several other rooms, including the cafeteria where they had dinner and the meeting room, in the latter of which they met N.E.S.T's mission control, Maggie Madsen and her childhood friend Glen Whitman, who played a vital role in the discovery of Cybertronians and the battle of Mission City.

The last room that the group entered was the work room, which was filled with various tables one had a laptop on it. The room was completely empty aside from the Autobots and the Lennox/Goodridge family.

"That concludes our tour. Do you have any questions?" Ironhide said sarcastically.

Theo let out a yawn, the family had arrived at 1 o'clock, it was now 8. "I think we should be getting home."

Sarah looked at Annabelle, who was asleep in her arms. "I agree."

Theo gave a wave to the various Cybertronians, "It was nice meeting you guys."

"Me and my sisters will be happy to see you again." Elita-1 said with a smile. The group had entered the hall, it being much more spacious. By now Ironhide had transformed and the family had entered after saying their goodbyes.

After the room was empty, laptop shifted until it had assumed the avian appearance of Buzzsaw. The cyber-eagle flew upwards and into the ventilation system, maneuvering his way through it until he got outside.

The interrogator flew for several miles before making his way into the abandoned warehouse as Thrust and Shockwave were conversing.

"I thought that there was another recruit with you, under the name of Dead End." Thrust gave a stern look at Shockwave.

"We lost him a few months ago in Death Valley." Shockwave replied as Buzzsaw landed on his blade.

"Shockwave, I have successfully mapped the Autobot base." Buzzsaw spoke.

"Excellent, is there anything else to report?" Shockwave inquired.

"Yes, the Autobot Weapons Specialist brought a human family unit known as the Lennoxes. The male parental unit was one of the survivors of Blackout's attack in Qatar. I suggest we keep them alive so we can use the infant and adolescent as leverage should the need arise." The cyber-eagle spoke as he sent the relevant images to Shockwave.

"A valid idea. Keep tabs on the family and if we have no further use of them, terminate them." Shockwave said as a sadistic grin grew over Buzzsaw's face.

"Consider it done. I will make sure their deaths are particularly messy." Buzzsaw said as he took off.

A/N: Buzzsaw is here since I didn't want to use Laserbeak so early.

Dropkick and Shatter are also taller, Dropkick being 20 feet and Shatter being 21 feet.

It's been awhile since we last checked in on Barricade and Blackout, I wonder how they're doing.


	5. Ambush

Theo awoke late the next morning. Sluggishly, he put his clothes on before making his way downstairs. Walking into the kitchen, he froze. A man was sitting at the table.

He had tanned skin and looked to be in his mid-forties. He was wearing ACU trousers and a black tank top. He had a rather muscular build littered with scars, wearing the tank top to draw attention to it. He had salt and pepper hair styled in a military buzz cut and a rather angular face. Stubble lightly dusted his jaw. His eyes were the bluest that Theo had ever seen on someone, a large scar passed over his left eye.

"Who are you?" Theo asked the man.

The man gave a smile, "It's about time you woke up." His voice held a rather noticeable English accent, something that Theo noticed instantly.

"Ironhide?" Theo looked at the man in astonishment.

"The one and only." The man replied.

"How the heck are you human?" Theo asked.

"Well I'm not really human, it's just something called a holoform that we use to make our disguises more convincing." Ironhide responded.

Theo gave another look at the holoform in front of him, there was just something off about it. Its eyes' movements were to fluid as they looked around the room, its movements unnaturally graceful one moment and to stiff and mechanical the next. What was sitting in front of him truly wasn't human.

Satisfied by Ironhide's answer, Theo began to cook an egg for breakfast. It wasn't particularly odd, he often cooked for himself all the time, but even then the rest of his family would be in the kitchen as well.

"Do you know where the others are?" Theo asked, trying not to make eye contact with Ironhide's rather unnerving holoform.

"I dropped Annabelle of at daycare, Sarah's at work, and William is back at base. He told me to come back here and keep an eye on you." Ironhide answered.

After scrambling the egg, Theo sat down at the table next to the holoform. He looked at the holoform against his better judgement, a question gnawing at the back of his mind.

"So Ironhide, are there any more Decepticons on Earth or were they all killed?" Theo asked, if the Decepticons were still active, then god knows what could happen.

Ironhide gave a sigh, "There are currently four known Decepticons that are still active, Blackout, Barricade, Scorponok, and Megatron's Second-In-Command Starscream. Though it's likely that there are others on Earth and more are likely to be coming.

Theo gave a nod, the rest of breakfast was eaten in silence. After Theo finished washing his plate, Ironhide looked at Theo. The Weapons Specialist had been becoming quite fond of the boy, nowhere near the same level of fondness as Annabelle but Ironhide had come to enjoy Theo's company.

He could also tell that Ratchet had a soft spot for the boy as well. The CMO had been coming over occasionally in the past week to make sure Ironhide's repairs were done, but always talking wound up talking to the boy about the most mundane of things on Earth that the yellow mech found fascinating. Theo in turn learned quite a bit about Cybertron's various 'fauna', a topic that intrigued the boy to no end.

"Hey Theo." The holoform finally spoke, breaking the silence.

The boy looked back at the black mech's holoform as he put his plate in the dishwasher. "What is it 'Hide?"

"Do you want to go for a drive?" The holoform answered with his own question.

Theo gave a smile, "If that's okay with you, than absolutely."

"It's not a problem at all."

"Well I after lunch I guess we can." Theo responded.

"Sounds like a plan."

Miles away Shockwave continued working on his new weapon. He was so involved in his work that he didn't even hear Thrust enter the room. Before Thrust had a chance to speak, the Decepticon FIC spoke, "At my current rate the weapon should be finished within 21 solar cycles."

"Shockwave, we don't have that kind of time." Thrust responded in an agitated tone.

Shockwave nodded his head in disagreement, "The Autobots don't know of our presence, let alone our location, so we do have that kind of time."

Thrust glared at the assassin, "What about your bodyguards murdering that Autobot medic, they outnumber our group greatly."

"If that's the case then call in reinforcements."

"Starscream is not one for wasting troops."

"Starscream would sacrifice any number of Decepticons if it means he escapes unscathed."

Thrust gave a sigh of defeat, "Fine, who do you want?"

"The dreads," Shockwave responded.

"Reasonable choice."

"Ramjet, Dirge, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Hotlink, Bitstream, Nacelle, Redwing, and Sunstorm."

"All very nice choices." Thrust smirked as he thought about his subordinates.

"I'll see what I can do, but no promises as to who comes." Thrust sighed as he walked off, leaving Shockwave to continue working.

Theo and Ironhide had been driving for a while, still driving along the roads of the barren Nevada desert. "So are you and Ratchet a thing?" Theo's question made Ironhide screech to a halt.

"What makes you think that?" Ironhide said as he started driving again.

"You were bickering like an old married couple when I first saw you two, and Ratchet seems pretty attached to you." Theo responded.

Ironhide gave a sigh, this boy was far to observant for his own good. But he reasoned that the boy deserved an explanation.

"We are spark bonded, the closest thing we have to your concept of marriage, but far more intimate. We are mostly aware of what the other is thinking or feeling at all times." The Weapons Specialist responded.

Theo gave a nod. They drove for another 5 minutes before the sound of police sirens filled the air. "Oh no." Ironhide said as he made a turn, driving towards an abandoned town.

"What is it?" Theo asked with concern.

"It's Barricade." That was the only explanation that Theo needed before he began panicking.

Ironhide drove into town, stopping outside of the junkyard. "Go in there and hide, I'll deal with him." Theo did as he was told, running into the junkyard as Ironhide made his way into the town square.

The Saleen S281 police cruiser appeared before morphing into the tall black and white form of Barricade. Wheels were positioned just above the 'Cons hands, wearing a pair of brass knuckles that read 'punish' and 'enslave.' The four red optics of the Saleen focused on Ironhide before charging at the black mech.

Ironhide quickly transformed into his bipedal mode, activating his cannons before firing at the smaller 'Con.

Barricade avoided most of the blasts as he prepared his bladed wheel nunchucks. Barricade gave a swing at the Autobot SIC, the bladed tires hitting Ironhide's chest, causing the ancient soldier to groan in pain.

Ironhide grabbed the chain connecting the two bladed wheels, pulling the nunchucks from Barricade's hands. He swung the nunchucks, grazing Barricade's shoulder with it.

Theo was hiding behind a pile of junk when he heard the whir of helicopter blades. Looking up, he saw a MH-53 Pave Low. The helicopter descended, landing on the ground several feet away. The massive aircraft began morphing, transforming into the biggest robot Theo had ever seen. A massive pair of helicopter blades sat on its back, its legs had backwards knees, invoking the appearance of a bird. The mechs spiky head scanned the junkyard before something detached from its back.

Dropping to the ground was a 3 foot tall, 26 foot long mechanical scorpion. It's claws bent around a dome with three holes at the centers. The scorpion surveyed the area with its screw-like eyes before looking in Theo's direction and letting out a series of chirps and clicks.

The hulking mech walked towards the pile that Theo was at, the boy heard the machine's arrival and began searching for something to arm himself with. He found a broken metal pipe ending in a sharp point, grabbing it and holding it like a sword.

The mech turned the corner, looking down and noticing Theo. The hulking machine reached for the boy, but in a split second Theo jammed the pipe into the palm of the machine's hand, causing it to howl in pain.

As the machine attempted to remove the pipe from his hand Theo made a beeline for the gates, but was cut off by the metal scorpion. Theo turned around, but the hulking machine had recovered and picked the boy up. The machine then gestured for the scorpion to follow it, the two then proceeded to leave the junkyard.

Barricade was knocked back by a plasma blast from Ironhide's right cannon. Energon was leaking out of the black and white 'Con's mouth. Where in The Pit was Blackout? Barricade got to his feet before deploying his spinning bladed wheel, charging at the Weapons Specialist.

Ironhide delivered a punch to the charging 'Con, knocking Barricade to the ground. Ironhide picked up the sound of footsteps before the colossal form of Blackout entered the battlefield, Theo being held in the 'Con's hand.

Barricade had now gotten back to his feet before looking at the black mech. "Now if you want the boy unharmed than you are going to do exactly as I say." The Saleen spoke. Blackout raised his hand towards Theo, the smaller pair of propellers forming on the helicopter's arm before spinning like a circular saw.

Ironhide growled, "What do you want Barricade?"

The Police Cruiser raised a hand to his chest, which opened, causing a small silver form to fall out. It was about 3 feet tall and had four blue optics on an insectoid head. Its four arms twitched spasmodically.

"I want you to call that medic of yours so he can fix up my partner here." The black and white mech explained.

Ironhide huffed. "And if I don't?"

Barricade gave a sigh, "Blackout, would you kindly show our friend what happens if our demands aren't met?" The chopper nodded in response, moving his spinning propeller inches away from Theo's face.

Ironhide scowled at the two 'Cons. "What do we get from this if I do call Ratchet?"

"It's quite simple really, me and Blackout will defect."

A/N: Cliffhanger! Now if you're wondering why Shockwave requested all those 'Cons it's because I wanted to give more Decepticons for the 'Bots to fight. Don't worry, they will have actual personalities.


	6. Assault

Shockwave was working on the weapon system. Well, he was until he picked up 5 Energon signatures in a town twelve miles south of the base.

Ceasing his work and walking towards his command center, he pulled up an image of the situation. Looking at the screen, he saw Barricade and Blackout talking to Ironhide, Blackout holding his rotor saw inches away from the face of a human he was holding. Barricade held the small silver body of Frenzy in his hands, the head of the mini-con no longer attached to its body. Scorponok stood by his master's side, watching the scene unfold around him. Ironhide held a look of agitation on his face while he conversed with the two (technically three) active Decepticons.

Shockwave looked at the screen with his usual calm face. Activating his comm, he began talking to the Decepticon infiltrator Makeshift. "Makeshift," Shockwave spoke, "we seem to have traitors in our midst, head to the coordinates I'm about to send you. Dropkick, Shatter, Blitzwing, and Thrust will join you shortly."

"Of course sir, I'm on my way." The voice on the other end responded. Turning off his comm, Shockwave summoned his subordinates.

"What do you need sir?" Shatter inquired.

Shockwave scanned the looks on his subordinates faces before responding, "Barricade, Blackout, and Skorponok seem to have betrayed us. As you know this is completely unacceptable, so I need you to terminate them with extreme prejudice. Makeshift will be joining you in case the humans attempt to intervene."

"Of course, we'll make sure their deaths are particularly brutal." Dropkick said before he, Shatter, Blitzwing, and Thrust exited the warehouse and took off towards the town.

After the four 'Cons left, Shockwave made his way to the part of the warehouse that was his designated workshop. Walking into the room filled with various oversized tables and science equipment, he walked towards the wall. On the wall was a large metal and glass tank, looking into the large container, Shockwave observed the opaque green contents of the tank before chuckling. "Soon my creation, your role in obtaining the Allspark shard will begin."

Ratchet arrived half an hour later, prompting Blackout to put Theo down. The black haired teen was quite happy about this. So happy in fact that he shot the titanic 'Con a certain single fingered gesture, causing Blackout to growl in response.

Ratchet walked towards Barricade, the Saleen handing the medic the head and body of Frenzy. Ratchet studied the headless corpse for a moment before speaking, "Normally I would have to take him back to base because of the injury. However, due to Frenzy's non-centralized nervous system, I should be able to complete the repairs here." Ratchet laid the body on top of a building, starting his repairs on the Mini-con.

Ironhide looked at Barricade and Blackout, a scowl on his face. "Listen up Decepticon punks, just because you're promising defection doesn't mean I trust you. The moment you two make a wrong move, you'll be on the business end of my cannons." The two 'Cons backed away from the Weapons Specialist, not wanting to be reduced to scrap metal if they so much as spoke the wrong word.

"So, Barricade was it? You seem pretty attached to that little guy. Are the two of you friends?" Theo asked, hoping to lighten the mood. He was quite curious about why the black and white 'Con was so attached to the tiny silver mech.

The Saleen gave a sigh, on one servo he didn't want to answer the insignificant adolescent flesh bag, but if he didn't then Ironhide would likely force him to answer anyway. "He's my partner, we've been working together for a long time. He's a bit of a pain in the aft, but he is quite smart."

"So I presume Scorponok is Blackout's partner than." Theo said, deducing the identities of the titanic mech and the metal scorpion.

Blackout chuckled, "He's more like my pet than anything else, he's fairly intelligent but I need to give him orders for him to be effective."

Theo and the two 'Cons continued speaking until Ratchet was done repairing Frenzy. The small mech's optics activated, seeing the huge (to him) Autobot standing in front of him, he jumped off the top of the building, landing like a cat. Frenzy scanned the area before noticing Barricade. The silver mech ran towards his partner, pausing when he noticed Theo. Two of Frenzy's four three fingered arms morphed, large cylindrical structures growing out of his palms, large ammo clips connected the newly morphed arms to Frenzy's body.

Frenzy let out a series of clicks and chirps before speaking something relatively understandable, "Pre-prepare to die flesh-fleshie!"

Before the silver bot could open fire, Barricade spoke, "Frenzy, leave him alone, he's with the Autobot's who revived you. Besides, we've defected."

Frenzy let out a shriek that was extremely loud, causing Theo to cover his ears. After regaining his composure, Frenzy spoke again, "Barr-Barric-Barricade, you can't be serious! We can't work with the Au-Auto-Autoscum!"

Barricade sighed, he had a feeling that it was going to end up like this. "I'm not too keen on the idea either, but a deal is a deal."

Before Frenzy's had a chance to respond the roar of jet engines filled the air. Ironhide turned to look at Ratchet, "Did you bring the Air Force?"

Ratchet shook his head, "I did but they shouldn't be arriving so early." Explosions rang out as several buildings were blown to pieces.

Theo had dodged most of the debris, the worst injury being a large cut on his left cheek. Ironhide looked skyward and saw three jets as well as a helicopter. He turned to look at Theo, "Get to safety! We'll deal with them!"

Barricade looked down at Frenzy, "You go with him in case he needs help."

Frenzy reluctantly shook his head, "Fine, I guess I'll pro-protect the flesh-fleshie." With that Theo and the silver Mini-con ran down the street, ducking into houses at random intervals.

The aircraft began flying closer to the ground, Ironhide taking aim at the helicopter. Before he could react however, one of the jets morphed into the winged form of Blitzwing who continued flying forward at breakneck speed, his arm outstretched in a grabbing motion. Ironhide had no time to react as the purple 'Con grabbed him and continued flying for several hundred more yards, ramming Ironhide into the side of a building.

Blitzwing chuckled, of all the Autobots he could have been sent to kill, it had to be their Weapons Specialist. "Well isn't this a treat," The winged Decepticon sneered, "now I can finally finish what I started back on Cybertron, and this time your precious medic isn't here to save you."

Ironhide activated his right arm mounted fusion cannon, firing it at Blitzwing's chest, sending the purple 'Con flying backwards. "You're right Blitzwing, Ratchet isn't here this time, but that doesn't mean I still can't send you to the scrap yard."

Meanwhile Ratchet, Barricade, Blackout, Scorponok battled Shatter, Dropkick, and Thrust respectively. Ratchet fired his plasma gun at Shatter, who skillfully avoided each shot before returning fire. Shatter closed the distance between her and the CMO in a matter of seconds, Ratchet deployed his arm mounted circular saw and slashing it at the red femme. The slash caused Shatter to stagger backwards. "Stop! My Spark casing is broken!" Shatter exclaimed as she held her chest.

Ratchet normally only repaired his comrades, but broken Spark casing was one of the most severe injuries a Cybertronian could receive. Even if Shatter was a Decepticon, Ratchet just couldn't let her suffer. "Are you sure? Let me see it." Shatter moved her hand away from her chest when Ratchet started to look at her injury. He saw the wound for a split second, but deduced that it was unlikely that his slash did any internal damage.

Before he could react, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Shatter chuckled, "Just kidding." While Ratchet had been looking at her wound, Shatter had drawn her short sword, plunging it into the medic's chest, mere inches from his Spark.

_This is insane!_ Barricade thought as he avoided another swipe from Dropkick's serrated sword. While the blue 'Cons ranged weaponry was strong, it was nothing compared to his physical strength. Had Barricade not been able to avoid some of the slashes, it was likely that he wouldn't be standing. Activating his spinning tire blade, Barricade used it to block the next slash.

Dropkick growled, activating his propellers. He began hovering about a dozen feet in the air. He activated his arm cannon, firing several missiles at his ex-comrade. Barricade avoided the projectiles before activating his arm mounted ring machine gun, the multi-barreled weapon forming around his hand. He fired several rounds at Dropkick's propellers, causing the blue Decepticon to plummet down to earth.

Thrust dodged another missile fired by Scorponok. Using his machine gun he continued firing at Blackout. The two foot taller ex-'Con easily shrugged of the bullets, activating his plasma cannon and firing it at Thrust. The green Decepticon was launched backwards, landing on top of a building.

As Thrust regained his footing, Scorponok lunged at his chest. Annoyed, the tactician ripped the metal scorpion off his chest before hurling it back at it's master. Scorponok quickly got off of Blackout, the titanic mech began charging at Thrust, propeller blade spinning. After Blackout closed the distance, he used his propeller blade to deliver a devastating uppercut to the tactician.

Blitzwing charged at Ironhide, dodging each blast from the black mech's cannons. The purple 'Con swung at Ironhide, his hand morphing into a dagger, which he proceeded to jab into Ironhide's chest. Blitzwing chuckled, "I'm surprised you've survived as long as you have with only one eye."

Ironhide growled as he retrieved his combat knife from the compartment in his leg, jabbing it into Blitzwing's chest. Blitzwing let out a howl of pain. Ironhide smirked, "For me, one is more than enough." Blitzwing's wing extended, turning into the blade he used to behead Longarm.

Ratchet tore the blade from his chest, slicing at Shatter's arm. Shatter delivered a kick in response, knocking the medic back and sending the sword flying. Picking it up from where it hand landed Shatter advanced on the fallen medic. Her skull-like face contorted into a grin, "Your time is up old medic. Any last words?"

Shatter got into position, aiming her blaster at Ratchet's Spark. Ratchet smiled, "Yes, I do as a matter of fact. Watch out." As Ratchet spoke dozens of bullets hit Shatter's chest. Several fighter jets and attack helicopters flew overhead, firing at Dropkick, Shatter, Blitzwing, and Thrust.

Thrust scowled, they were outnumbered and outgunned, fighting back would be suicide. "Decepticons, retreat." He said over the comm.

Blitzwing scowled at Ironhide, "This isn't over." He took off, leaving behind a cloud of dust.

Dropkick and Shatter observed the aircraft. Their flight modes were quite outdated by Earth standards so getting new ones could be useful. Looking to the sky Shatter scanned a F-35C jet, while Dropkick scanned a Boeing AH-64 Apache. Using their new alt-modes the pair joined Blitzwing and Thrust.

Theo and Frenzy ran towards Ironhide, Ratchet, Barricade, Blackout, and Scorponok, looking slightly worse for wear than before. Ironhide looked at Theo, who was now covered in ash and cuts. "What happened to you?" Ironhide asked.

"You know Ironhide, I think I'm quite fond of Frenzy." Theo said as he smiled at the silver Ex-'Con.

A/N: I decided to update Dropkick and Shatter's air modes not because I dislike their canon ones, but because I'm pretty sure three discontinued aircraft flying together would be suspicious.

I'll try sometime to write about Blitzwing and Ironhide's history and why Blitzwing was rather happy at the prospect of killing Ironhide.

Next chapter will be about what was happening to Theo and Frenzy during the battle.


	7. Crossfire

Theo and Frenzy ran through an empty part of town, gunfire and explosions could be heard in the distance. Hearing an explosion that sounded closer than the others, the duo ran into an abandoned parking garage. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Theo noticed Frenzy glaring at him. "What are you so angry about?" Theo asked the silver mech.

Frenzy gave a huff, "Lis-listen up boy, just because Barr-Barric-Barricade told me to pro-protect you doesn't mean I like you."

Theo was getting more and more angry at the Mini-con's attitude, truthfully he wasn't happy about their situation either, but at least he wasn't whining like a bitch about it. "First of all," Theo snapped at Frenzy, "my name is Theo, not boy, not fleshie, not meat-bag, not soon to be littered with bullet holes. Second of all, I'm not particularly happy with our situation either, but I'm not the one acting like it's the end of the world."

Frenzy looked at Theo with shock, he wasn't expecting the boy to respond to him, and he certainly wasn't expecting the shouting. "Fair enough, but now what?"

Theo sighed, he was honestly concerned about that, odds are those Decepticons could have killed Ironhide, Ratchet, Blackout, Barricade, and Scorponok, so it wasn't likely that help was coming for the duo. Still, he had to stay positive. "Odds are the guys from N.E.S.T are going to come pick us up, so we'll have to wait until then."

As if on cue, a black SUV pulled up beside the garage, a man with black hair and military combat gear stepping out. Frenzy gave the man a blank look as he walked up to the duo. "Hey, I was told to come pick you up Theo. I'm guessing that the little guy with you is one of the turncoats." The man spoke.

"Yeah, this is Frenzy. Thanks for coming. Theo spoke as the man moved so that he was inches away from his face. Theo backed up, "What are you doing?"

The man scanned Theo's face, "Making sure there are no serious injuries."

The man observed Theo's face, the boy getting an uneasy feeling. Something was wrong. The man looked normal enough from a few feet away, but up close he didn't look completely human, he was more like some kind of shell. The man's eyes flickered for a second, momentarily becoming blood red.

Theo jumped back with a scream. The man scowled, a long razor sharp metal tendril extending from his mouth, ending in an organic tongue. Theo narrowly avoided being hit by the tendril, jumping out of the way before it hit him.

Frenzy reacted immediately by launching a CD shuriken, slicing the tendril off near the base, causing it to writher on the ground, before rapping around Theo's leg.

Theo and Frenzy took off running as the man's skin segmented, folding away to reveal a red eyed metallic skeleton. The skeleton's hand morphed into a blaster, firing an energy blast at the duo.

Avoiding the blast, the two ran into a gas station, running into the building's less than pleasant bathrooms. "What was that thing?" Theo asked as the sliced off tendril attempted to constrict his leg.

"That was Make-Makeshift, a pre-preten-pretender. They can dis-disguise them-themselves as org-organic beings and can rep-replic-replicate almost all bod-bodily func-functions." Frenzy explained as the gas station's door opened, Makeshift entering.

Frenzy walked towards the bathroom door causing Theo to whisper-yell, "What the hell are you doing!?"

I'm go-going to deal with Make-Makeshift, now if you know what's good for you, you'll stay right here." Frenzy explained as he slinked out of the bathroom.

Makeshift noticed Frenzy and opened fire, changing his blaster's settings so that he wasn't caught in one of the resulting explosions. Frenzy took cover behind a shelf, slinging shurikens at the pretender. Makeshift jumped out of the way, the shurikens embedding themselves in the wall.

Theo wrestled with the tendril, attempting to remove the prehensile appendage from his leg. After about a minute he was able to remove it from his leg. He had to get out there. He didn't particularly like Frenzy, but he wasn't going to let another person die when he could have saved them.

Frenzy fired several rapid fire shots at Makeshift, the pretender taking cover behind the counter. As Frenzy began reloading, Makeshift lunged, knocking the Mini-con to the ground. "Prepare to die." Makeshift said as he aimed at Frenzy's head.

Theo burst out of the bathroom, wielding the tendril like a whip. "Hey Terminator rip-off." Makeshift turned to look at Theo, who proceeded to swing the tendril, wrapping around Makeshift and pinning his arms to his sides.

"Hasta la vista baby." With a single strong tug with both hands, the blade-like tendril constricted around Makeshift's upper body, eviscerating the pretender. Theo was launched backwards from the tug, landing on his back.

Makeshift's decapitated head fell to the ground, rolling towards Theo. The head seemed partially active, glaring at Theo before speaking some final, garbled words, "H-l r-o$s t- -h* that you *o)l- de&fe me, d) y*& e$#n know w*)& *&! ($3?" Makeshift's eyes dimmed, the pretender killed.

"That was weird." Theo stated the obvious.

If Frenzy had a proper mouth, he would have been gasping in shock. A human boy had just killed one of the Decepticons' most dangerous spies. Theo barely had any muscles on him, yet somehow had gathered enough strength to tear the pretender apart. He didn't really like theo, but he had to thank the boy for saving him.

"Well, tha-thanks for sav-saving me." Frenzy spoke.

"It's no problem, after all, you did cut off that guy's tongue." Theo said as the two walked out of the gas station, Theo stepping over what was left of Makeshift as they did so.

"So can you tell me a bit more about those Pretenders?" Theo inquired as they walked down the street, the fighting between the Autobots and Decepticons seeming to have stopped.

"Of course, they are practic-practically indis-indistinguish-indistinguishable from the species they mimic, the only ones who can really tell they're fake are other pre-pretend-pretenders."

Theo thought for a moment, he knew that Makeshift wasn't human, yet he wasn't a pretender. "If that's the case then how was I able to realize he wasn't human?"

Frenzy looked skyward for a moment, "The less pre-pretend-pretenders use their dis-disguise, the less con-convinc-convincing the dis-disguise is, it's likely that Make-Makeshift didn't use his shell that often."

"Wouldn't people notice someone who doesn't age?"

"When I said pre-pretend-pretenders can mimic most bod-bodily syst-systems, I meant all of them, in-includ-including matur-maturing."

Theo gave a hum in response, satisfied my Frenzy's answer.

"Why did you save me?" Frenzy asked, he had been treating the boy horribly, yet Theo came to save him? What was the boy thinking when he attacked a fully armed, extremely deadly pretender?

Theo gave Frenzy a strange look. "Honestly, you only have shurikens and gatling guns, while that thing had energy blasters. I figured I had to help you, because if I didn't, Barricade would have killed me."

Frenzy chuckled, it was common knowledge that Barricade was ridiculously overprotective of him. "That's true."

Turning a corner, the duo saw Ironhide, Ratchet, Barricade, Blackout, and Scroponok, who were only a little worse for wear. Theo grinned before running towards Ironhide.

A/N: A handy dandy scale chart of all characters that have been named.

Scorponok: 3 feet, 26 feet long

Frenzy: 4.5 feet

Buzzsaw and Laserbeak: 5 feet, wingspan 12 feet.

Makeshift: 5.7 feet

Arcee, Chromia, and Elita-1: 7 feet

Ravage: 7 feet, 12 feet long

Hatchet: 12 feet, 20 feet long

Sideswipe and Jazz: 15 feet

Bumblebee and Barricade: 16 feet

Generic Seekers: 18-25 feet

Longarm, Crankcase, and Crowbar: 20 feet

Ratchet and Dropkick: 24 feet

Shatter: 25 feet.

Ironhide: 26 feet

Optimus Prime: 28 feet

Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Thrust, Ramjet, Dirge, Blitzwing, Sunstorm, Redwing, Nacelle, Bitstream, and Hotlink: 29 feet

Soundwave and Blackout: 33 feet

Megatron and Shockwave: 35 feet

The Fallen: 42 feet

Next chapter will be the repercussions of Blackout and Barricade's betrayal.


	8. Give and Take

If Shockwave had the ability to feel emotions, he definitely wouldn't have been happy after what he had just witnessed. His four subordinates had just had their afts handed to them royally, not just by the Autobots and former comrades, but the pathetic humans as well. Shatter had come so close to wiping out one of Prime's inner circle, but the fleshlings just _had_ to show up and ruin everything, and judging by the lack of another Decepticon energon signature, it seemed that Makeshift had been terminated as well. He slammed his fist down on the control panel.

Ironhide was currently driving Theo and Frenzy back to the Mission City base to treat the former's wounds. The attack had caught them all off guard, not only that, but the attack seemed to be organized. Normally 'Cons working on their own were far more opportunistic than the ones that had just attacked. Worst of all, he knew exactly who sent them, Shockwave. He knew that Dropkick, Shatter, and Blitzwing were the scientist's personal bodyguards and only took orders from him.

Shockwave had to have sent the 'Cons, there was no other explanation. Sure, according to Bumblebee, Shockwave, Shatter, Dropkick, and Blitzwing had been off the radar for about a decade, but they knew when it was necessary to hide. Ironhide was worried about what could occur if Shockwave did actively enter the fray, he was just as powerful as Megatron, if not more so and possessed a frighteningly high intellect.

He was also not particularly happy about the aftermath of this attack either. Soon enough news of the attack would reach D.C and the human liaison would be arriving for the debriefing. Ironhide absolutely hated that man with all his spark, George Galloway was as the say, a Grade-A homophobic afthole who continuosly taunted Ironhide about his relationship with Ratchet after he was told. Heck, Ironhide swore that he heard Optimus seriously consider breaking his no harming humans rule under his breath.

Ironhide's thoughts continued to wander as they pulled into the base.

Shatter, Dropkick, Thrust, and Blitzwing stood terrified as their superior glared down at them. "You four had one job and failed."

"I'm sorry sir, I came close to terminating the medic but the humans intervened." Shatter spoke warrily.

"Shatter, you're excused, you at least did some relatively major damage to the medic during your battle." Shockwave spoke.

Shatter smirked before waving goodbye to her comrades, "As the humans say, sayonara suckers I'm out of this dump!" She exited the warehouse, leaving the other three to face their superior.

"Now, if you tell me something that could be considered 'good news' I might forgive you for this defeat." Shockwave spoke in a terrifying monotone.

"Ye-yes sir, Starscream agreed to send reinforcements, not just the ones you requested, but several others as well." Thrust sputtered out.

"Who would those extras be?" Shockwave asked.

"He didn't specify who." Thrust replied.

"You are lucky." Shockwave spoke before returning to continue work on the weapon. Primus, if his bodyguards didn't usually have such good results with their missions then they would have been long gone by now.

The Lennox house was empty, Will and Theo were at the base and Sarah wouldn't be picking up Annabelle for another few hours. Buzzsaw swooped onto the front porch, having finished observing Theo after his battle with Makeshift. There was something off about that boy, and Buzzsaw intended to get to the bottom of it. A small, three fingered claw on a spindly multi jointed appendage emerged from his chest, which the cyber-eagle easily opened the door with.

Crawling through the house, Buzzsaw saw something that caught his attention. On one of the seats were faint traces of energon radiation. Buzzsaw quickly shrugged this off, holoforms gave off energon radiation, and judging by the amount of radiation, it seemed that a holoform was the culprit.

He continued scanning the room, noticing a picture of the Lennox family. Buzzsaw smirked, if things didn't pan out the way Shockwave wanted them, then Buzzsaw would happily string up the bloody, mutilated bodies of the family in a tree.

Slithering up the stairwell, Buzzsaw began making his way towards Theo's room. Buzzsaw opened the door and scanned the room, taking note of some of the room's more notable features, a laptop, a closet, a bed, a table, and a box. Curious as to what the laptop was, Buzzsaw slithered towards it.

Buzzsaw opened the laptop, only to be met with a lockscreen. Buzzsaw chuckled, for a Cybertronian, this was child's play. In a matter of seconds Buzzsaw typed in thousands of possible passwords before the computer unlocked. He browsed through the boy's history, almost blue screening when he saw what the boy liked reading on the website known as " ." _That is disgusting!_ The cyber-eagle quickly changed files before less than pleasant images filled his processor.

After another half-hour of searching the laptop yielded no results, Buzzsaw shut the computer down and left the room. Making his way out of the house, Buzzsaw took off, heading towards the N.E.S.T base to monitor Theo.

Theo sat in the med bay, Ratchet tending to his (relatively) minor wounds. Before heading back to base, Theo explained what happened to him and Frenzy to Ironhide and Ratchet, who were quite impressed by his defeat of Makeshift. "So how bad is it?" Theo inquired to Ratchet.

"It's nothing to severe, but I would recommend spending the night here just in case." The CMO responded. Theo sighed, just this morning he was casually talking to Ironhide, now he looked like he'd been through a hurricane.

"Well I must admit that was quite exciting for my first encounter with Decepticons." Theo said.

Ratchet sighed, "Trust me, when you're in the thick of things, excitement doesn't matter." Theo nodded in acknowledgement, he wasn't an expert when it came to war, but he had a feeling Ratchet had seen some shit.

"I suppose you're right." Theo responded.

Hours had past and far out in space 20 pod-like objects hurtled towards Earth, parts of them breaking off in the atmosphere. 9 crashed on aircraft carriers, 4 landed in Death Valley, another 4 crashed at a military base, and the last 3landed at a police station. Two officers ran out, seeing a large crater in the parking lot. At the center of the crater were three, hulking metallic forms. The first was a slender mech with several tentacle-like dreadlocks made of chains flowing off its back. The second had a similar body structure to its partner, but was bulkier, had short golden dreadlocks and a nose ring, as well as a pair of spikes extending from its shoulders. The third was a quadrupedal beast, like the second mech, it had short gold dreadlocks and a nose ring.

The second mech looked at the two officers as they walked towards the crater. The mech snarled like an animal, "Zis planet is one of zee most primitave I hafe efer seen. Vhy woult Starscream send us here?" It spoke in a thick German accent.

"We were sent to assist Shockwave in obtaining the shard Crankcase." The first mech spoke, a slight austrailian accent in his voice.

"Can I at least kill zese pests, Crowbar?" The mech known as Crankcase responded.

Crowbar sighed, "Fine." Crankcase gave a wicked grin as one of his pistol-like heat blasters materialized in his servo. He fired the blaster at the two officers, reducing them to piles of ash and charred bone fragments.

"We should begin looking for suitable disguises to conceal ourselves." The quadrapedal mech spoke.

"Certainly Hatchet, I see some already." Crowbar spoke gesturing to three modified Chevy suburbans. The three mechs scanned the vehicles before transforming and driving away.

"How could we possibly trust those things?" Galloway spoke, rage evident in his voice. A meeting was currently taking place between the Autobots, Lennox, and Galloway, attempting to figure out what to do with the four ex-Cons in their custody.

"Galloway-" Optimus spoke only to be cut off.

"That's DIRECTOR Galloway to you." Galloway retorted.

"Director Galloway, Ironhide and Ratchet informed me that Blackout, Barricade, Scorponok and Frenzy fought valiantly against the attacking Decepticons. Frenzy even assisted in protecting an innocent." Optimus continued.

"So it could be a ruse by the 'attackers' to let some of their own into our ranks." Galloway retorted.

"Shatter, Dropkick, and Blitzwing only take orders from Shockwave, and while he does like getting behind enemy lines, he wouldn't try something as obvious as this."

"That may be so, but we still can't completely know if they're up to something. They could steal the shard and no one would be the wiser." Galloway spoke.

"We'll keep a close eye on them then," Ironhide spoke, "make sure they don't try anything." Galloway begrudgingly nodded.

Ratchet was deep in thought when he heard Theo speak, "Hey Ratchet?"

Ratchet turned to look at Theo who was still lying on a medical bed, "Yes?"

"So you guys are mechanical, right?" Theo said, "So someone had to make you guys, or at least made the Cybertronians that made you."

Ratchet gave a sigh, he knew that this question was going to come up sooner or later, and he wasn't particularly comfortable talking about it. The creators were always a hard topic to talk about, mainly because he and Ironhide were among the only living Cybertronians to remember them. "Me and Ironhide are really the only ones who remember them, but I suppose I could tell you about them."

Theo smiled, while Ratchet had explained quite a bit about Cybertron to him, there was still so much he didn't know about the metal planet.

"60 million years ago, three major parties contributed to our creation, the Prime of life Quintessa, the Prime of death Danteon, and a species they recruited to assist them, the Quintessons." Ratchet reminisced, "Quintessa and Danteon used their powers to create the sparks of their creations, while the Quintessons gathered the raw materials needed to produce their frames."

Theo nodded along.

"However, the Quintessons were consumed with greed, wanting to use the Cybertronian race as slaves and servants. When Quintessa and Danteon learned of this, they waged war against the Quintessons, sparking the First Great War." Ratchet said, "The Quintessons were defeated. But 20 million years later, the Second Great War broke out, this time between Danteon and Quintessa. Quintessa was delusioned into thinking that Cybertron was dying and that they needed to steal the life-force of other worlds to restore it. Before the war ended, Quintessa sealed Danteon inside the Allspark, but not before Danteon drained Quintessa of most of her powers and transferred them into a staff."

Theo had a confused look on his face, which Ratchet noticed, "What seems to be the problem?"

"You said that Quintessa and Danteon were primes, so they had to have been Cybertronians, so what made them?" Theo asked, and to this, Ratchet had no answer.

Far out in space near the desolate ruins of Cybertron, a massive ship hovered. Five long extensions jutted up from the sides, making it resemble a giant hand. Onboard a black-scaled reptilian creature floated. Its lower body was composed of dozens of flowing tentacles, its head jutted backwards, making it resemble a xenomorph, it had a pair of mandible-like jaws. It had various cybernetic implants all over its body, the upper right corner of its head and its left arm completely replaced by machinery.

"You what?!" The creature hissed at a 16 foot tall black mech with a green face mask.

"S-Sevax, sir, they seem to have escaped." The mech spoke.

Sevax glared at the mech, his awareness expanding towards it, excellerating every fiber of its being. In a matter of seconds the mech was reduced to a puddle of molten metal on the floor.

Sevax sighed, "Lockdown, the council, and Quintessa will certainly have my head on a stake for this, knowing that I let Danteon's bodyguards escape."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. While I mostly used it for world building, it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Galloway's name was changed to George since I didn't want to give Theo a new name 8 chapters in. And yes, I am aware that Galloway's actor is openly gay but for the sake of this story Galloway is a homophobe just so you guys can like him even less.

From now on I will be responding to reviews left by you readers. So if you have any questions about the story, or any advice, I will gladly take it so I can make this story as good as possible.


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